Research into the detrimental effects of excessive exercise has been conceptualized in a number of similar ways, including ‘exercise addiction’, ‘exercise dependence’, ‘obligatory exercising’, ‘exercise abuse’, and ‘compulsive exercise’. Among the most currently used (and psychometrically valid and reliable) instruments is the Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI). The present study aimed to further explore the psychometric properties of the EAI by combining the datasets of a number of surveys carried out in five different countries (Denmark, Hungary, Spain, UK, and US) that have used the EAI with a total sample size of 6,031 participants. A series of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were carried out examining configural invariance, metric invariance, and scalar invariance. The CFAs using the combined dataset supported the configural invariance and metric invariance but not scalar invariance. Therefore, EAI factor scores from five countries are not comparable because the use or interpretation of the scale was different in the five nations. However, the covariates of exercise addiction can be studied from a cross-cultural perspective because of the metric invariance of the scale. Gender differences among exercisers in the interpretation of the scale also emerged. The implications of the results are discussed, and it is concluded that the study’s findings will facilitate a more robust and reliable use of the EAI in future research.

Background: During the past three decades, research interest in work addiction has increased significantly. Most definitions concerning work addiction have specifically contained personality-related elements. However, the results of empirical studies concerning personality and work addiction are both few and mixed. The aim of the present study was to explore the role of personality in the background of work addiction.Methods: The present study systematically reviewed and empirically carried out a meta-analysis on all the published studies examining the association between personality variables and work addiction (n= 28).Results: The results of the meta-analysis indicated that perfectionism, global and performance-based self-esteem, and negative affect had the strongest and most robust associations as personality risk factors of work addiction. Among the Big Five traits, extraversion, conscientiousness, and intellect/imaginations showed positive relationships with work addiction. However, these associations were weak.Conclusions: Based on the meta-analysis, personality appears to explain only a small amount of the variance of work addiction and further studies are needed to assess the interaction between individual and environmental factors.

Personality differences are important determinants of problematic online behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of loneliness, depression, and online gaming motives and moderating role of age on the relationship between trait emotional intelligence (EI) and Internet gaming disorder (IGD) via the construction of a multiple mediation model. A total of 478 online gamers completed a self-report online survey, including validated psychometric scales assessing the aforementioned constructs. Results indicated that trait EI was directly and indirectly associated with IGD and that the motive of escape was a partial mediator between trait EI and IGD among the total sample and adult gamers, but not among adolescents. Moreover, trait EI was associated with coping, skill development, fantasy, and recreation gaming motives only among total sample and adult gamers, and the escape motive was positively associated with IGD among total sample and adult gamers. However, among these relationships, only the association between trait EI and fantasy was significantly moderated by age group. Furthermore, the direct effect of trait EI was stronger among adolescent gamers when compared to adult gamers. Results showed that trait EI is inversely associated with IGD and affects gaming for different motives among adolescent and adult gamers.

Background: Empirical evidence suggests that low self-esteem and high perfectionism are significant personality correlates of work addiction, but the mechanisms underlying these relationships are still unclear. Consequently, exploring cognitive mechanisms will help to better understand work addiction. For instance, rumination is one of the under-researched topics in work addiction, although it may explain specific thinking processes of work-addicted individuals. The purpose of the study was to test the mediating role of maladaptive rumination (i.e., brooding) in the relationship between personality and addiction. Methods: In a largescale cross-sectional, unrepresentative, online study, 4340 adults with a current job participated. The following psychometric instruments were used: Work Addiction Risk Test Revised, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, and Ruminative Response Scale. Results: It was found that self-oriented perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism, and self-esteem had both direct and indirect relationships with work addiction via the mediating effect of maladaptive rumination. The two paths involving brooding explained 44% of the direct relationship. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that brooding type of rumination as a putatively maladaptive strategy explains why individuals characterized by low self-esteem and high perfectionism may have a higher risk of work addiction. The results suggest that cognitive-affective mechanisms in work addiction are similar to those found in other addictive disorders.

Perfectionism is a multidimensional personality trait that may covary with both negative and positive indices of mental health. Different components of perfectionism might be associated in different ways with positive and negative aspects of mental health. However, past studies tended to focus only on one covariate at a time. This study aimed to test the association between domains of perfectionism to both positive (self-esteem, wellbeing) and negative mental health indices (narcissism and psychological distress) while testing the structural validity of the Short Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale in a large non-English speaking community-based sample in Hungary. A total of 4,340 participants (49.3% male) took part in an online survey that included Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale, Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, World Health Organization Wellbeing Index-5, and parts of Brief Symptoms Inventory-18. Using structural equation modelling analyses, we confirmed the three-dimensional model of perfectionism in our community sample. In the multivariate analyses, all perfectionism factors were related to narcissism. Furthermore, only socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with low self-esteem and lower wellbeing; however, both socially prescribed and self-oriented perfectionism were associated with higher psychological distress. Our findings supported the notion that different domains of perfectionism correlate to mental health indices differently, indicating that socially prescribed perfectionism may be the harmful component of perfectionism.